Various attempts to produce edible meat substitutes from protein sources other than meat have been hitherto made and fibrous protein and other protein materials having texture or structure have been produced. In general, these protein materials are primarily obtained in the shape of granules, flakes, fibers, sheet, etc. and, in order to obtain meat block-like materials, they are further processed separately by using binders and the like.
Attempts to directly produce meat block-like protein materials from raw protein materials by a single continuous process have been also made. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 7217/1980 discloses the production of a meat-like material from a slurry of a raw protein material having a relatively low water content (25 to 65 % by weight) by using an injection machine to inject the slurry into a metal mold. U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,327 discloses the production of a meat-like block or lump of protein fibers by accumulating a coagulable protein slurry under water-drainable conditions.
The present inventors have surprisingly found that a meat block-like protein material can be readily and continuously obtained from a raw protein material by continuously releasing a slurry containing the raw protein material flowing through a flow path into a specific hollow piece.